BLURB: Duke Webb has run the most successful bail recovery agency in Atlanta for over twenty years. That’s because he has a team of trained, competent hunters backing him up to keep his name feared on the streets. But Duke knows that nothing can go on forever. His hunters are in committed relationships and ready to settle down, and so is he. That’s what leads him to start his new training program.

“That’s the new vision for Dukes. Veterans operating and tracking behind the scenes with a new powerhouse apprehension team on the streets.”

Brian and Quick are the first to offer up two new recruits.

Kellam Knight has studied martial arts under his sensei, Quick, since he was eight years old. A tossed-out reject from high-society, Kell has a problem fighting on the right side of the law. If he sees an injustice, he has to correct it. He doesn’t have to run and cower from his enemies anymore, he’s a fighter who can protect himself and others. When Quick offers Kell the opportunity to join Duke’s training program, he’s all in. Except he’s not prepared for the straight, over-confident, extremely disciplined, sexy man Brian has recruited to be his partner.

Tyrell Jenkins’ world was flipped upside down when his father never returned home from his last deployment. He’d been Ty’s teacher, mentor, his guide to living a righteous life as a good man. His father didn’t raise him to be like every other young, stereotypical male in Atlanta. Instead, he’s been taught to be respectful, to speak the language of real men. When Brian King – his father’s most trusted comrade – finally comes to him with the truth, he doesn’t come alone. He comes with trained men hidden in the shadows… and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join a brotherhood unlike any other.

This installment is a part of a series and contains previously mentioned characters, but CAN standalone. Each book centers around a new couple.
This book ends in a HEA. NO cliffhanger.

REVIEW: Oh my goodness. This book—as usual—was absolutely amazing. The characters, storylines and dialogue was top notch. But then again, this is nothing new as this author consistently churns out high quality work.

The author did something a little different this time in that an African American MC was featured. And he was DIVINE. But I’ll come back to him in a bit. Let me get into the other MC first—Kellam Knight.

Kellam—Kell—is this interesting mixture of innocence and compassion. He’s a deadly warrior who’s kind and gentle. He’s vulnerable yet strong. He’s definitely a survivor. He’s extremely beautiful which he goes to great lengths to cover. The many ways in which she was able to make him this complex character with so much depth to him was absolutely brilliant.

Now back to Tyrell Jenkins—Ty. Ty’s outward appearance belies his personality. Many would look at this young black man in expensive clothes and dismiss him as a criminal even though he doesn’t present himself as such. Ty is a man with honor and principles. He constantly draws on and applies the teachings of his late father to live by. Ty is a righteous man. A loving and honorable man. He lives his life by a moral code of conduct and principles that’s been taught to him by his father. A man who works hard to ensure that his mother is well taken care of. He is a man who is comfortable within his own skin. When he first realized that he was falling for another man, he didn’t flinch or question it too much. He just went with it, realizing that love transcends gender and race. Her portrayal of this black man gave me so much LIFE. So much needed life, at that. What Miss Lady did was take all of those ridiculous stereotypes that’s usually attributed to black men, balled it up and threw it straight in the trash where it belonged. And it was GLORIOUS.

Ty and Kell’s love story was a beautifully written thing. It wasn’t based on lust. Theirs was a subtle build to perfection. Ty courted Kell. Like old school courted him. That’s what makes their relationship so pleasurable to read. These men fell in love with each other based on their hearts and minds instead of their flesh. That came later.

What I also enjoyed with this book was how spiritual both men were. They weren’t religious but they were spiritual in that they believed in a higher power.

I could go on and on about how beautifully written this book and these characters are. If I could give this book a ten star rating, I would do it.

This womxyn comes up with the most fabulous creations every single time she put her fingers on that keyboard.

As always, went into the kitchen and put her foot in the damn pot. And this time, she did it for the culture.

Thorne thought that was that. They’d take a nice trip, get married, and spend a week luxuriating in a five-star hotel with occasional excursions to fabulous restaurants.

Riley imagined a traditional wedding with all the trappings. With all their friends and family. At Christmas.

Thorne concedes reluctantly, and a flurry of wedding planning ensues. At the same time, Thorne is wrestling with a recalcitrant client, and Riley and his business partner, Susan, are consumed with renovations and planning for the opening of their bakery. Stress on top of stress makes both Riley and Thorne doubt their relationship, and a major misunderstanding nearly silences the wedding bells.

By the time they reach their happily ever after, they’re both going to deserve all the romance they’ve been dreaming of.

REVIEW: This is the third installment in the Thorne and Dash series. In this story, the two become engaged. The proposal and engagement was cut and dry: Thorne proposed and Riley accepted. It’s the actual wedding planning that becomes a major issue. Both men have different ideas on their dream wedding. Thorne wanted something simple with little fanfare with just their loved ones in attendance with a long relaxing honeymoon whereas Riley wanted a traditional wedding, complete with all the pomp and circumstance. Stress from work and lack of communication causes the two men to crack. Reading this story gave me unpleasant flashbacks of my own experiences planning a wedding. It were those memories that had me wanting to Gibbs smack Riley at he back of his head. I thought that Thorne’s idea of a simple ceremony with a very nice reception then off to a luxurious honeymoon was a great idea and much more practical considering the date. There was too much outside stress these men had to deal with in terms of work and to with the added stress of planning a wedding scheduled for Christmas was a logistical nightmare. Reading that stressed ME out.

I absolutely love this author’s work and reading this made me want to strangle both men but the ending was so very sweet. I love how this author portrays her characters. These men aren’t perfect but they’re perfect for each other and with love, patience and hard work, they always find their happiness.

I would definitely recommend this series.

Please note that this is a series and even though it may be read as a standalone, I definitely suggest you read them in sequential order so you can get a better grasp of the characters.

BLURB: Sparks ignite and tempers flare when a sexy, optimistic wedding planner, moves his business in across the hall from a jilted, divorce lawyer’s practice.

“Look smart ass. This is the last time I’m going to remind you about breaking sections of the lease. If there’s a next time, I won’t stop until you and your frilly, white wedding shit is thrown out of here. Do you got it?!”

From high school, up until he became a successful attorney Jacob Snowden was convinced that love had it out for him. “Everyone left,” were the words he lived by. His mother, his high school sweetheart, his father, and his fiancé, all left Jacob just when he felt it was safe to let down his guard. Not any longer. Jacob was a determined man, set at keeping people at a distance. If his six foot one, military-made body didn’t scare people off, his permanent scowl surely did. At almost forty, Jacob’s social life was non-existent, but he told himself his work fulfilled him. He helped people get out of their loveless marriages. Jacob Snowden was one of the best divorce lawyers on the east coast and was damn proud of it. So, imagine his disdain when a wedding planner moves into the suite directly adjacent to his… an insanely masculine, male wedding planner.

Wylde Sterling had made quite a name for himself in his hometown of Roanoke, Virginia, working for a wedding planner that catered to the elite. He was known for his charm and impeccable taste. Yep, he was incredible at giving couples the wedding of their dreams. But he wanted nothing more than to plan his own. After striking out in love more times than he cared to admit, Wylde decided to start his own business in a new city, hoping Richmond would give him a fresh start. Things started out wonderfully – until he started to piss off the angry divorce attorney next door.

Wylde could see past Jacob’s mean scowl, knowing there was a reason for it. It was the man’s defense mechanism, his means of keeping people away. Everything in Wylde told him to stay away, but he believed Jacob just needed to meet a man who had been hurt as badly as he had.

Standalone gay romance that ends in an HEA and no cliffhanger.

REVIEW: I loved everything about this book and these characters. As usual, this author manages to tell an amazing story that captures and captivates you cover to cover, from the first word written to the last.

Jacob’s character was interesting. I was fascinated to read how good his childhood and family life was up until the point where his mother abandoned the family. There is this drastic shift for the worse in his life for both him and his father. Theirs was a story that made me the saddest.

The events of his childhood shaped every decision he’s made in his adult life. It’s made him harden his shell but underneath that shell was a man who had been deeply hurt and betrayed in life. All anyone ever saw was the shell he presented; many not interested in or afraid to see past his angry shell.

Wylde’s character was quite interesting: here you have this beautifully masculine man in a career where many would expect the stereotypical flamboyant gay man to have. In this book, as in all of her others, she flips the script and made it completely the opposite. That’s what I like about this author. She has this wonderful talent for writing her gay male characters as just regular guys which is exactly what they are; her characters are relatable. I know that when I pick up her work it will be sans the troubling stereotypes that seems to be the trend in many of the books in this genre. And as always, her characters are mature men, men in their mid to late 30s and older so the reader can further relate to the characters.

This book, like her others, was extremely written. This is an author that has really mastered her craft; her work is of the highest quality.

The only holes that I found in the book was the fact that Jacob was referred at one point in the book as a soldier instead of sailor. Another small issue was the timeline. I don’t know about the timeline but I am going to assume that it was a bit before the repeal of DADT so it wasn’t really made clear how Jacob was able to propose or how he was going to pull off and get away with marrying another man. Another issue I had is the circumstances behind the mother’s abandonment of her family. The only thing that made the reasoning not feel real was the length of time. The time threw it all off for me. That situation should’ve been, I felt, resolved within five years or less. Realistically it probably would’ve been because here it is almost two decades later that she still in the picture which begs the question as to why she left in the first place if it took almost two decades to resolve itself. Either that or there could’ve been another reason as to why she left. The reason for her leaving and the time it took for the situation to progress to the stage that it did didn’t make sense. It just would’ve been more believable had things progressed much faster for her than it did and he found out on the back end.

Although noticeable, the above stated did in no way deflect from the overall enjoyment I experienced reading this story.

This heartbreak written within this book will have you on the edge of tears and just when you think you’re going to cry your eyes over how much hurt Jacob is experiencing, a scene is written in that will have you laughing yourself into stitches.

BLURB: None of the matches caught his eye as much as the matchmaker himself.

Growing up poorer than poor didn’t leave Navashen Bhattathiri many options for life outside of school. All of his concentration was on keeping his scholarships. Sixteen years later, he’s fulfilled his dream and become a doctor. Now he’s returning home to Lexington and is ready to prove himself to the world. In doing so, he reconnects with Brent Carpenter—high school classmate, real estate agent, all-around great guy… and closet matchmaker.

Brent makes it his mission to help Navashen develop a social life and meet available, interesting men. Unfortunately Navashen’s schedule is unpredictable, and few of those available, interesting men value his dedication like Brent does. Brent’s unfailing friendship and support convince Navashen he’s the one, but can he capture Brent’s heart when the matchmaker is focused on finding Navashen another man?

REVIEW: This story is a very sweet friends to lovers story set in Lexington, Ky. This is the second of the Lexington Lovers books and nineteenth within the Dreamspun Desires series. This story gives us Navashen a neonatologist and Brent a real estate agent.

Nav grew up poor and decided to return home after fulfilling his dreams of becoming a doctor. Determined to settle down he looks up Brent, a childhood acquaintance of his. The two reconnect while Brent helped him find his home.

The two become reacquainted with each other and become close but as friends only. Brent opts to play matchmaker to help Nav meet new people. Neither man realized that the very thing that was being sought was already in their faces.

I absolutely loved the relationship that Nav had with his brother. Akshat was my favorite character and the love and support he received from Nav, Brent and his neighbors was heartwarming. I truly enjoy these characters; they were very well written.

With that said, the story did have a bit of a drawback. The storyline, although lovely, was quite bland in the way of passion. There was absolutely no sexual chemistry between Brent and Nav’s characters and I think that’s what made the relationship between the two men less believable. This made the one and only sex scene at the end seemed forced; like it had to be written in because it was expected instead of it being a natural progression of the relationship. I think that it should have been left out completely; I was okay with the book not having sex as I think that a sexual relationship between the two would’ve taken away from the story.it’s this reason that I feel that the sex should’ve been left completely out of the story instead of written in.

In all, I truly enjoyed this book. There a sweet Hallmark-esque vibe that I loved and it worked well..

SUMMARY: It started simple: Ondrej Kovac marries Archie Katsaros so Ondrej can stay in the US, away from his judgmental family in eastern Europe. Archie marries Ondrej in exchange for the money to bail out his failing company. It’s a fraud neither man is convinced he can pull off.

But as Archie introduces Ondrej to New York society and Ondrej proves his skill in the office, they start to discover a connection between them. Can they overcome the rocky foundation their relationship was built on, meddling immigration agents, gossip columnists determined to out their deception, and an aggressive executive set on selling Archie’s company out from under him? Only if they can prove to each other their love is worth fighting for.

REVIEW: I wanted to like this story. I truly did. I know it’s a plot that’s been done to death but I was thinking that it would have that certain something if it had a LGBT twist to it.

That was not the case with this story. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t as good as it could’ve been either. You have a broke tycoon and a rich foreigner who’s about to be deported. Each man has something the other one desperately needs. So, people in Archie’s camp that they get married.

Okay, sounds okay but the execution of the story was very…bland. I think that if you’re going to do a storyline that’s been done as much as this one has, it has to be something fresh, hot and new thrown in to make it pop.

The book wasn’t poorly written. I liked the characters, the dialogue was okay, but the plot and storyline has been done to death and there wasn’t anything in the book to make it really sparkle. It just didn’t WOW me and that’s sad because I really, really wanted to like this book.

Now, I will admit that the ending was kind of okay but I had to wait until then end to get a part that was simply ‘okay’. I think that with a trope this common, there could’ve been just a tad more spice added. It’s not a bad read; it just could’ve been better.

No bank is going to give a nomadic thrill seeker a loan, even if Tom Flynn wants to develop and run a retreat for disabled kids. Good thing he’s finally old enough to pull from his trust fund. However, it would mean settling down—because accessing the money requires him to be married—so he asks his best friend, Luke, to marry him.

Luke Marten’s goal is simple: don’t go on one more crazy adventure with Tom. Knowing how successful he has been in the past, Luke has a backup plan: don’t fall in love. He’s a goner when Tom not only proposes but confesses to one seriously hot kink.

For their friendship to survive this marriage, they’ll need to face DOMA, conservative judges, and long-held beliefs about each other. Talk about getting caught by the short hairs.

Review

Tom and Luke have been friends forever. Tom is bi-sexual but Luke (who is gay) doesn’t know this. Tom’s been wandering the world doing a bit of this and that until his inheritance comes in at 35. He doesn’t realize he has to be married to get it. When he does he asks Luke to help him out.

Luke agrees to the plan – it really is for a good cause – and the two explore the feelings neither has let the other know.

**

So… I liked this. I did not love it. The writing style was such that I found myself having to read and re-read parts to get who was doing what and why. It just didn’t flow smoothly for me, even though there was no high-brow concepts or anything standing in my way.

On the one hand I appreciated that the writer was kind of going for a more “minimalist” approach and letting each word/phrase/sentence fill with more meaning as a result, but the effect left me a bit confused rather than intrigued.

Tom and Luke are both compelling characters and I wish we’d had more story to get more deeply immersed with them. I was a bit bewildered by the added drama of the friend and the almost divorce and the angst surrounding the land. I’d have thought there was enough to deal with as it stood with the gay marriage and the time line and the friends to lovers and the “I’m bi-sexual”, etcetera.

I also never quite got a handle on how Luke and Tom felt toward each other before the deal. There was tension and I’m not sure how Tom managed to hide his sexuality from his BFF for so long – or why – but in the end I was still happy they found each other and could achieve their dreams.

I rounded this up from 3 to 3.5 simply because I appreciated the effort the author took to give us something new and different in terms of writing styles and I hope to see more from her.

Ellis Broad never imagined he would end up a single father before he turned twenty-nine. Then again, most of his expectations for the future evaporated when his husband of three years filed for divorce, leaving Ellis as their six-month-old son Harrison’s only parent. After the divorce Ellis hides, working from home on his small graphic design business so he can be a full-time dad. He succeeds until Zane Hadlin stumbles into his life.

Zane is everything Ellis desires and everything he fears at the same time. A former gang member from the wrong side of the tracks, Zane turned his life around after his older brother was killed in a shooting. Now an artist, Zane shows Ellis a path back into the world and all he’s been missing out on.

The only problem is, Ellis’s ex-husband hasn’t quite gone for good, and his digging into Zane’s past could drag up secrets no one is prepared to deal with.

Review

(Book reviewed previously on this site.)

Ellis is one of the first gay men in New York to get married when the state approves same-sex marriage. He’s also one of the first gay men to get divorced. Shortly after he and his ex, have a son, Harrison, they split, leaving Ellis to raise his biological son by himself.

Zane is a former gang member turned art student who meets Ellis through mutual friends. Though he is haunted by traumas in his past, in his heart he yearns for stability and family.

Ellis and Zane have great chemistry right from the start. But, Ellis is wary of involvement so quickly after becoming divorced and Zane is fearful of exposing Harrison to his dangerous past.

This is sweet book by Anna Martin covers some interesting “ground breaking” topics like gay marriage, divorce, and parenthood. The relationship between Zane and Ellis is sexy and touching, but the relationship between Harrison and Zane is truly heart-warming.

I really enjoyed this book. A little bit of angst. A little bit of realism. A little bit sexy. A lot of warmth and tenderness.

(Anna is the same author who brought us Tatoos and Teacups, another wonderful read.)

Audio

RL Davis is a new narrator to me. I thought he did a nice job. There was some voice inflections (I really liked his New York accent!) and good handling of the emotions. All in all he really added to my enjoyment of this story.

Senior year of college is for studying, partying, and having fun before getting serious about life. Instead, Chad’s days are filled with headaches and exhaustion, and his fencing skills are getting worse with practice, not better. Then there’s his nonexistent love life, full of girls he’s shunted to the friend zone. Is he asexual? Gay?

Grad student Warren Douglas could be out clubbing, but his roommate is better company, even without kisses. He’s torn up watching Chad suffer, gobbling ibuprofen and coming home early on Friday nights. If Chad weren’t straight, Warren would keep him up past midnight. They’re great as friends. Benefits might answer Chad’s questions.

A brief encounter with lab rats reveals Chad’s illness—he needs surgery, STAT, and can’t rely on his dysfunctional parents for medical decisions. Warren’s both trustworthy and likely to get overruled—unless they’re married. “You can throw me back later,” Warren says, and he may throw himself back after his husband turns out moody and hard to get along with, no matter how much fun his new sex drive is. Surgery turns Chad into a new man, all right…

…but Warren fell in love with the old one.

Review

Warren and Chad are roommates. Warren is gay and Chad is… well, Chad is having a lot of trouble defining himself.

Chad, since he was about 15, has been having debilitating headaches and some pretty debilitating erectile dysfunction. He doesn’t link the two, but instead worries about his “manliness”. He decides to conduct an experiment after his most recent female failure and his buddy Warren is happy to oblige.

Though it is far from perfect, Chad is definitely more aroused by Warren than any of the previous girlfriends he’s had and the two embark on an exploratory friends to lovers relationship.

But that isn’t all there is to be discovered. Chad’s headaches are getting worse and Warren and his friend convince Chad to go to the doctor to test a theory they have about the source of Chad’s problems.

It turns out Chad has a brain tumor and it is the probable source of all his physical ailments.

The surgery to remove the benign growth is tricky and there is a chance that Chad will be left a vegetable if it goes wrong. Knowing how his family feels about “pulling the plug”, Chad doesn’t want to be left in a vegetative state and he doesn’t trust his family to respect his wishes. To circumvent this, he and Warren sign all the appropriate Medical Health forms but also decide to get married so that Warren will really have his power of attorney.

Once the surgery has been successfully completed there a lot of changes Chad will go through. Essentially puberty, again. The question is – now that Chad is “a new man” will he still want to be with Warren. The other question is – will Warren still want to be with him?

**

What a unique book! PD Singer is nothing if not an amazing researcher. You can tell she must have done a bunch of serious investigating into this disease. It was fascinating!

There were times when I was certainly skeptical. Two college guys getting married for the sake of a power of attorney was definitely a little on the unrealistic side, but for the most part, the rest of the story seemed to fall within the realm of possibility.

I appreciated the “real” sex in this book, and that it wasn’t always hot and sweaty and joyous. There were some hardships the couple went through that just rang true and felt very authentic.

I was thoroughly captivated by this story and was waffling, right up til the end, right along with Warren on whether or not Chad would figure things out or was the whole relationship about to crumble before their eyes.

I really recommend this unique book and this fascinating look at a relationship.